Australia and Switzerland agree to tackle tax evasion

Supporting greater tax transparency and information exchange is a key way to crack down on those who deliberately try to avoid paying their fair share of tax.

Australia is already a leader in the automatic exchange of information. Today we have agreed to take another step in the fight against evasion and automatically exchange information with Switzerland based on the OECD’s common reporting standard (CRS).

Under the agreement, the Australian Taxation Office will automatically receive details of financial accounts such as investment income and balances, that Australians hold in Switzerland, and use it to check against the income declared in Australian tax returns.

Previously hidden offshore income will be exposed. There will be nowhere to hide.

Today’s agreement also covers financial services cooperation. Australia and Switzerland will explore opportunities to improve provision of financial services between our two countries.

Australia and Switzerland are to implement the CRS from 2017, and first exchange information in 2018. Over 90 other jurisdictions have committed to implement the CRS according to a timeline agreed by the G20.